National Teacher Education Organization

AACTE Weekly News Briefs | April 28, 2009
. . . delivered to your inbox so you can enjoy up-to-date news on colleges of education, teaching and the classroom, campaigns, legislation, STEM teacher issues, international teacher issues, grants, and upcoming events. Please click on linked headlines for full story.


AACTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Update on the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Competition
The U.S. Department of Education is in the final stages of clearing the application for the TQP grant competition and anticipates that it will be released between May 4 and 11. AACTE has received hundreds of questions related to the program. Many of the answers can be found on the site from our March 19 webinar on the TQP program. The Department is also in the final stages of developing a web page for the grants, which should contain additional answers. If you have a question or concern in the meantime, you can contact the Department directly at tqpartnership@ed.gov.

Diez, Stiggins, Popham to Address Assessment (AACTE web conference)
A multiday AACTE web conference May 5-7 will focus on assessment preparation and assessment literacy for initial teacher candidates within the preservice program. Along with members of AACTE's Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability, Mary Diez, Rick Stiggins, and James Popham will present "What Every Teacher Educator Should Know About 21st-Century Assessment Strategies." Don't miss Stiggins' presentation on "Preparing Teachers to Use Assessment to Support Learning and Verify Learning Success" and Popham's insights on "Cracking the Preservice Assessment Barrier." Registration closes Monday, May 4, at 12 noon EDT.

Learn About the New Accountability Provisions in Title II of HEOA (AACTE webinar)
Title II of the Higher Education Act requires all higher-education based educator preparation programs and states to report on the quality of their teacher candidates and to describe their preparation programs. The statute was significantly revised in 2008, which will affect how institutions collect data for the report cards. The U.S. Department of Education has released drafts of the revised institutional report card and state report cards, and the public has until June 8 to submit comments on these drafts. Join AACTE and Allison Henderson of Westat, the Department's contractor for data collection, to learn more about the new requirements in the statute and to review the draft report cards. This webinar, to be held May 14, 2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT, is ideal for the staff/faculty at your institution who submit the Title II report cards.

FREE Access to Archived Webinar on Closing the Achievement Gap for Children in Foster Care (AACTE webinar)
Access this free webinar anytime through June 30! "Tutor Connection: Closing the Educational Achievement Gap for Children in Foster Care" is sponsored by the Casey Family Programs. Tutor Connection has provided 1,240 student teachers from California State University-San Marcos to work directly with children in foster care to improve academic performance. Hear about the results for over 1,500 foster care youth who have participated in this program and learn more about the roles that Departments of Education can play in positively impacting this unique and often invisible population.

FREE Holocaust Institute for Teacher Educators
In cooperation with AACTE, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will host the third annual Holocaust Institute for Teacher Educators June 1-5. There is no registration fee for this institute, to be held at the museum in Washington, DC. Participants are responsible for travel, hotel, and other expenses.

Register Now for AACTE's Day on the Hill
AACTE's 2009 Day on the Hill will take place June 17-18 in Washington, DC. This is AACTE's premier advocacy event! Come to DC to meet with your members of Congress and to tell them about the good work you do. This year's theme is "Innovation and Reform in Teacher Preparation." For more information, please contact Mary Harrill-McClellan at mharrill@aacte.org.

New AACTE Leadership Academy
Two of AACTE's yearly professional development conferences, the Leadership Institute for Department Chairs and the New Deans Institute, will be combined in 2009 to create an exciting educational opportunity. With the goal of sustaining the teacher education profession by providing powerful learning and networking tools, AACTE's new Leadership Academy is an essential event for new deans, department chairs, and other educational administrators to attend. This event will take place June 28 - July 3 in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here to view the 2009 Leadership Academy brochure. Registration deadline: May 28.

Last Call for Volunteers
Share your expertise – Gain national visibility – Develop your network – Enhance the profession
Time is running out to volunteer for exciting leadership opportunities at AACTE! Through this Friday, May 1, we are accepting the following:
- Nominations and volunteer applications to serve on AACTE's Board of Directors and Standing Committees
- Session proposals for the 2010 AACTE Annual Meeting & Exhibits in Atlanta, Georgia

In addition, your chance to provide commentary on the 2010 resolutions is drawing to a close. Take this opportunity for input on any or all of the 13 resolutions due to expire next February. By Friday, May 15, let us know your stance on the issues to be addressed:
- Accountability
- Global Diversity
- Government Relations
- Innovation and Technology
- Professional Development
To leave feedback online, visit the Briefs web page, or direct your comments to anyone serving on AACTE's standing committees. Faculty, staff, and Institutional Representatives may respond to this call for comments on member resolutions. You are the strength of this member-driven association!


NATIONAL NEWS

School Reform Means Doing What's Best for Kids
From the Wall Street Journal (Op-Ed by Arne Duncan)
As states and school districts across America begin drawing down the first $44 billion in education funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, they should bear in mind the core levers of change under the law. In order to drive reform, we will require an honest assessment by states of key issues like teacher quality, student performance, college-readiness and the number of charter schools. And when we can link student outcomes to teacher quality and teachers to their colleges of education, we can challenge these institutions to do the best possible job in preparing a new generation of outstanding educators. Without the data, we cannot even have the conversation, let alone discuss solutions.

Study Tallies Education Gap's Effect on GDP
From the Wall Street Journal
Closing the educational-achievement gap between the U.S. and higher-performing nations such as Finland and South Korea could boost U.S. gross domestic product by as much as $2.3 trillion, or about 16%, according to a new study by McKinsey & Co., the international consulting concern. The report, which used a formula McKinsey helped develop to link educational achievement to economic output, also estimated closing the gap in the U.S. between white students and their black and Latino peers could increase annual GDP by as much as an additional $525 billion, or about 4%.

Obama Signs $5.7 Billion National Service Bill
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
President Barack Obama is calling on Americans to serve their country, signing a $5.7 billion national service bill April 21. The bill triples the size of the AmeriCorps service program over the next eight years, and offers new ways for students to earn money for college. The legislation outlines five broad categories where people can direct their service: improving education, strengthening access to health care, assisting veterans, helping the poor, and encouraging energy efficiency.

Where the Jobs Are: Teaching
From Forbes
It's a field that's bound to grow no matter the state of the economy. Many school districts across the country, particularly in Florida and California, are contending with budget cuts and the threat of layoffs, but people in the field expect them to start hiring again, and heavily, before too long.

Soapbox: Raise the Educational Bar
From the Financial Times
Unlike most other developed countries, the U.S. does not have national academic standards outlining what each student must learn to graduate from high school. In fact, it is the opposite, with each of the 50 states setting the bar wherever it wants—and, in many states, that is too low. Since NCLB threatened draconian intervention and loss of funding if targets were not met, states had incentives to forgo more rigorous standards in favor of ones districts were more likely to meet.

Invoking the Sputnik Era, Obama Vows Record Outlays for Research
From the New York Times
In a speech Monday at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, President Obama presented a vision of a new era in research financing comparable to the Sputnik-period space race, in which intensified scientific inquiry, and development of the intellectual capacity to pursue it, are a top national priority. He provided fresh detail on an initiative, already included in the economics stimulus bill, creating a $5 billion "Race to the Top" fund available to states doing the most to increase the ranks of trained science and math teachers.


NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Poor Neighborhoods, Untested Teachers
From the Washington Post
Students in the region's poorest neighborhoods are nearly twice as likely to have a new or second-year teacher as those in the wealthiest, a Washington Post analysis has found. The pattern means some of the neediest students attend schools that double as teacher training grounds. Experts say an effective teacher is key to raising academic achievement. Yet some disadvantaged students can spend years in classrooms led by untested recruits.

Washington State to Require Teacher Performance Assessment
The Washington State Legislature passed a bill April 20 requiring the state's Professional Education Standards Board to develop a proposal for a new teacher performance assessment. The proposal, due in January 2010, must outline "a uniform, statewide, valid, and reliable classroom-based means of evaluating teacher effectiveness as a culminating measure at the preservice level that is to be used during the student-teaching field experience. This assessment shall include multiple measures of teacher performance in classrooms, evidence of positive impact on student learning, and shall include review of artifacts, such as use of a variety of assessment and instructional strategies, and student work."

Ideas for Closing Teacher Gap
From the Baltimore Sun
Every year, Maryland public schools need to hire 500 math, science and technology teachers. But the state's colleges and universities produce only about 175 qualified applicants, which often leads to unqualified teachers staffing math and science classes, particularly in the poorest schools. William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, says the system has a "moral responsibility" to help close the gap. Kirwan will require the campus presidents reporting to him to develop plans and target numbers of qualified graduates, and he said he'll hold them accountable.

Higher Education Hits Lean Times
From the Charleston Post and Courier
South Carolina slashed funding to public colleges and universities by more than 25 percent this year—likely the largest decline in the nation. After years of declining funding, students are beginning to doubt the state's commitment to higher education, said Seaton Brown, a College of Charleston senior and student body president. "They're driving away all their customers," he said. "If students can't afford school here, they'll go to other states." Colleges and universities are operating at 1995 funding levels, not adjusted for inflation.

State Ups Ante to Lure Teachers: Math, Science Educators' Pay Gets a Boost
From the Athens Banner-Herald
Georgia is sweetening the pot to lure badly needed math and science teachers to its classrooms. Gov. Sonny Perdue recently signed legislation to boost salaries for secondary school teachers with proper math or science certification. The pay hike would begin next year. The state faces a "critical shortage" of the specialized teachers, Perdue said.


OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Call for Papers - JUSTEC 2009
The Japan-United States Teacher Education Consortium (JUSTEC) is a professional organization of Japanese and American teacher educators. The group has held an annual meeting, the JUSTEC Seminar, every year for the past 20 years. The seminar is a forum for the exchange of research, best practice, and policy papers on teacher education issues of interest in both countries. Papers on a wide range of topics are presented, including teacher quality, pedagogy, issues of diversity, professional development of teachers, and technology, to name a few. This year's forum will take place September 17-20 at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. The proposal submission deadline is May 15.

NBPTS Seeks Reviewers for Library Media Standards
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is accepting applications for the committee responsible for reviewing and revising its Library Media standards. Please visit the NBPTS Standards Committees web page for information on the duties and responsibilities of a standards committee member and to begin the application process. The application is open through May 15, 5:00 p.m. EDT. For assistance or additional information, contact NBPTS at nominations@nbpts.org.

U.S. Department of Education Invites Comments on the HEOA Title II Reporting Forms on Teacher Quality and Preparation
The U.S. Department of Education recently released the draft institutional and state report card forms required of the accountability provisions in Title II of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). The public may comment on these forms by June 8. Title II of HEOA requires institutions of higher education that prepare teachers to provide annual reports on how these teacher candidates perform on certification/licensure exams; goals that the institution has set for preparing teachers in key shortage areas; assurances for how institutions are preparing all candidates to be successful in the classroom; and descriptions of how preparation programs are structured. AACTE encourages its members to respond to this call for comment.

Peer Reviewers Wanted for U.S. Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Competition
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) is seeking peer reviewers for the upcoming Teacher Quality Partnership grant competition. The Teacher Quality Partnership Program is authorized under the Higher Education Act, as amended by the Higher Education Opportunities Act of 2008. OII is seeking persons with teaching and leadership experience at the early childhood, elementary, middle, high school, and college/university levels to serve as application reviewers for this grant competition.

FIPSE Seeks Reviewers with Expertise in Community Colleges and Adult Education
FIPSE anticipates a demand for proposal reviewers for FY 2009 with expertise in community college and adult education. Reviewers are generally asked to read 5-10 proposals and are compensated for their efforts. The Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education requires that all field readers have a bachelor's or higher degree. If you are interested in being a proposal reviewer, please register at http://opeweb.ed.gov/frs/register.cfm and select to read for the "Comprehensive Grant Program." For more information about all FIPSE grant programs and new initiatives, visit www.ed.gov/fipse.

Resources Available on Postsecondary Education for Individuals With Developmental Disabilities
The U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) funds TATRA, the Technical Assistance on Transition and the Rehabilitation Act Project (a Parent Information and Training Program), to focus on helping families prepare youth with disabilities for employment and independent living. Projects provide information and training on transition planning, the adult service system, and strategies that prepare youth for successful employment, postsecondary education, and independent living outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.pacer.org/tatra/.
An online clearinghouse on postsecondary education for individuals with disabilities is provided at the HEATH Resource Center, based at the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Focus areas include educational support services, policies, procedures, adaptations, and opportunities at American campuses, career-technical schools, and other postsecondary training entities. HEATH also has published a Guidance and Career Counselors Toolkit: Advising High School Students with Disabilities on Postsecondary Options and has compiled a list of summer precollege programs as a resource for students with disabilities who are seeking ways to prepare for college and enhance college performance. Visit http://www.heath.gwu.edu/ for more information.

Opportunity for Future Educators to Teach in France
From The University of Akron
Applications are available for secondary education teacher candidates, with prior French language study, seeking licensure in social studies, language arts, science, math, Spanish, and physical education to participate in a teaching seminar and practicum in France – August to December 2009. Housing, airfare and living stipend are provided to participants through a grant from the U.S. Department of State.


Kristin K. McCabe, Editor
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
1307 New York Ave., NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
(207) 899-1309
kmccabe@aacte.org